Ancient throwing dart reveals first archaeological evidence of castoreum

Helwig, Kate; Poulin, Jennifer; Monahan, Valery; Thomas, Christian

doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2021.102949

Cited by 4 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Most traditional indigenous uses of castoreum are documented as associated with trapping activities where its scent acts as bait to attract game to a trap. There are rarer accounts where castoreum is used as a treatment for materials such as wood (Emmons 1911;Helwig et al 2021). It is also notable that beavers use their castoreum for both purposes; 1) to mark their territories, and 2) to waterproof their fur.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Observations completed on all three segments of the dart shaft showed clearly visible radial sections of wood grain (IAWA Committee 2004;1989) indicating each segment was carved from split staves of wood as opposed to natural saplings. Wood identification for one segment of the dart was accomplished through destructive sampling followed by microscopic analysis.…”

Section: Wood Identificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…No pigment was visible on the medial shaft segment, but flakes of residue were visible on the binding sinew (see Helwig et al 2021).…”

Section: The Shaftmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…During conservation Valery Monahan observed small areas of red-brown residue of an intentionally applied material at assorted locations on the artifact: underneath the sinew binding on scarf joint between the proximal and medial shaft segment, and on the wood of the shaft in and around the fletching. The sampling and analysis of this residue is documented in Helwig et al (2021). It was determined that the residue was castoreum from a beaver (Castor canadensis); see discussion for further consideration.…”

Section: Residuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Alligator Lake Throwing Dart, Yukon, Canada

Thomas,

Monahan,

Alix

et al. 2024

JGA

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On August 25th, 2018, the Yukon Ice Patch Research Group recovered a 6,000-year-old segmented throwing dart from site JcUu-11 (Hare et al. 2004) located in the traditional territories of the Carcross/Tagish First Nation and the Kwanlin Dün First Nation, Yukon Canada. The discovery was the result of a dramatic retreat of an ice patch over a period of 23 days. This discovery is the first entirely complete atlatl throwing dart retrieved from an archaeological site in arctic and subarctic North America. Beyond its remarkably state of preservation, the artifact offers insights on material use and artifact design that may have significant implications for archaeological interpretations of First Nations’ hunting traditions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Wood Identificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…No pigment was visible on the medial shaft segment, but flakes of residue were visible on the binding sinew (see Helwig et al 2021).…”

Section: The Shaftmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Residuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Alligator Lake Throwing Dart, Yukon, Canada

Thomas,

Monahan,

Alix

et al. 2024

JGA

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“…Magdalenian un-barbed osseous points are universally regarded as heads of delivered projectiles (Langley et al, 2016;Pétillon, 2006;Pétillon et al, 2011;Pfeifer, 2016;Stodiek, 1993). With basal widths of 8-20 mm, corresponding to the distal diameters of the wooden spear shafts, the Maszycka points are in the size range of throwing spears from ethnographic and archaeological contexts (e.g., Allen & Akermann, 2015;Cattelain, 1997;Clarkson, 2016;Hare et al, 2004Hare et al, , 2012Helwig et al, 2021;Pettigrew, 2015), as well as of successful experimental replicas (e.g., Coppe et al, 2019;Gauvrit Roux et al, 2020;Pétillon, 2006;Pétillon et al, 2011;Pettigrew, 2015;Stodiek, 1993) used with spearthrowers. Spearthrower hooks made of antler are rare but regular finds in western European assemblages (Stodiek, 1993).…”

Section: Function and Use-related Fracturesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Antler, Ivory, and Bone Artefacts from Maszycka Cave (Southern Poland). New Signals from a Late Upper Palaeolithic Key Site

Pfeifer

2022

J Paleo Arch

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The well-known Late Upper Palaeolithic cave site of Maszycka (southern Poland), excavated in the end of the nineteenth century as well as in the 1960s, furnished a collection of 89 osseous artefacts manufactured from cervid antler, mammoth ivory, and mammal long bone. The great majority are finished tools, mostly projectile points, while raw material blocks, pre-forms, and production waste are represented by only a few pieces. Based on the presence of the characteristic double-split antler tools, distinct projectile morphologies, and recurring ornaments, the assemblage from Maszycka can be assigned to the early Middle Magdalenian facies à navettes which dates to around 19 - 17.5 ka cal. BP. Compared to the western European sites, which also belong to this facies, Maszycka is characterised by a high proportion of ivory tools, reflecting the abundance of this favourable raw material in eastern central Europe, as well as an unusually high proportion of decorated tools, which may relate to an increased need for symbolic communication within the small and geographically isolated Magdalenian group. Both the remarkable typo-technological similarities of the bone industry from Maszycka to contemporary assemblages in France and the gap in the central European archaeological record between 22 and 19 ka cal. BP speak in favour of a direct immigration of Magdalenian hunter-gatherers from western Europe immediately after the end of the Last Glacial Maximum. Their relations to the bearers of the Epigravettian adjacent to the east and south remain to date poorly understood.

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